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7 thoughts on “Casino Royale (2006)”

I think Casino Royale is flat out inferior to it’s source material but it succeeds in being an enjoyable Bond picture by not trying to obey some sort of formula or, by and large, trying to satisfy “duh kids”. And speaking of the title song, I would have killed to have heard this playing over the titles instead:

Good call there, Ricardo. Consider me a “Living Tree” convert. Just goes to show, if you want to produce a song that rocks, there’s no need to hire “name” rock stars. I’m a sucker for almost any song that assimilates the original 007 theme, but when you combine that with Shirley Bassey I’m sold…hell, even her “Moonraker” theme is a decent piece of Easy Listening balladry. Not my genre, nor my Bond Theme, of choice, but I can see how someone might groove to it.

Cornell and I, on the other hand, never clicked. Even his Soundgarden work annoyed and frustrated me more often than not, save for the song “Fell on Black Days.” I can barely remember the rest of Superunknown but, considering his recent work, chose to call that a good thing.

I like what you have to say here, but I’ve got to disagree with you about the song – I thought it was the best in years. I still remember getting a shiver down my spine when hearing it in the cinema, and, for reasons I couldn’t describe, I wanted to hear it again; it’s still on miPod today. To me, it’s Barry-esque without being too obviously so (compare it to Adele’s “Skyfall” and you’ll notice the difference), and it’s grungy, forceful mood is the perfect fit for the movie – just like the equally forceful Audioslave “Shadows On The Sun” was a perfect fit for Michael Mann’s Collateral. More than that, there are meaningful lyrics to contend with (“Arm yourself because noone else here will save you…”), and Daniel Kleinman, though I’m generally not a fan of his opening sequences, does his best work yet. The reveal of Vesper’s face in the Queen Of Spades, “James Bond 007 – status confirmed” and Craig’s face zeroing into full view besides “Directed By Martin Campbell” while Chris Cornell sings “You Know My NAAAME!”… all memorable.

I’ve also written my own review of Royale (and Quantum Of Solace) here which you might like to check out. Let me know what you think.

Yeah, we’re gonna have a discussion about Quantum here real soon. Song aside, when it comes to Casino, we’re pretty much of one mind…though, as always, there’s a lot that could be parsed that I’ll save for later (though not too terribly much later).